Professional Toolbox

A federal program that helps states cover the cost of placing and keeping a child in foster care grew from $300 million in 1981 to nearly $2.7 billion in 1991.

Too Many Foxes in Huron County

The probe of Sheriff's Detective Matt Spencer by the Huron County
Sheriff's Department reminds us of the probe of the Gravelle family
by the Ohio Department of Health and Human Services.

The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation should
have been called in to investigate the crimes committed by Huron
County Children's Services and the Huron County Sheriff's Department
instead of asking a State department to investigate a local HHS
department.

Perhaps, then, the following facts would have been made known:

Additional Information

Jo Johnson, social worker for CPS, made up the false allegations
of abuse that reportedly were given by an insurance agent and she
gave measurements of the dog cage instead of the beds in order to
obtain a search warrant;

On the witness stand, the insurance agent angrily denied the information
in the search warrant stating that he had never reported child abuse,
the information was fictitious, he never signed a complaint, and he
never saw any abuse in that home. The complaint was filled out by Jo
Johnson to imply that he had filed the complaint;

Detective Randy Sommers relied on Ms. Johnson's statements without
doing his own investigation as required by law. He later stated in his
deposition that if he had done his own investigation, he would not have
removed the children from the home and;

Sommers also stated that after the search of the house, he realized
that the measurement of the beds was incorrect so he went to his boss,
Sheriff Richard Sutherland, and asked if he should correct the false
information, but was told to "leave it alone and let the media
run it like it is."

Public prosecutors and judges have an ethical duty to seek justice in a
proceeding and not to taint the jury pool by making statements about
a case to the media. Why did it take 5 months to "build a case"
before charging the Gravelles criminally on the same day as the permanent
custody hearing? Sounds like more foxes guarding the hen house.